Archive for the 'internal rambling' Category

This came out of an interesting conversation earlier tonight. J noted that the movie of Game of Thrones is coming out, and wondered if it would be worth it to read the book before then.

This is a series I had heard other people praise, and from the summaries it looked as if I’d like it. So a few years ago, I checked the first book out of the library. I managed to get through a few chapters, but I never got to the point where I was compelled to keep reading and eventually I returned it without finishing.

Sometimes there are writers whose prose just leaves me cold. Gregory Maguire is one such, and even though I think his plots are interesting, the actual act of reading books written by him turns me off.

Sometimes there are writers whose concept actively offends me.

And sometimes there are series where the writing is fine, perfectly readable, but in the end I’m left with a feeling of ‘eh’. It doesn’t turn me off but it doesn’t turn me on, either. There’s no squee.

Quite a few very popular series hold no squee for me. There’s nothing that excites me, makes me stay up waaaay past my bedtime to finish, think about the characters when I’m not reading. Many times this is a result of a lack of/poor characterization of female characters, but not always.

Lord of the Rings
I have tried so hard to love these books. They’re adored by so many people who share similar tastes with me that I couldn’t understand why they didn’t click with me. At various times I have managed to get through The Hobbit and Fellowship of the Ring. Barely. I think the movies are wonderful but the books are not for me.

Wheel of Time
In a fit of ambition 12 or more years ago, when people I knew were still excited about it and Jordan was still very much alive, I bought the first three books of this series. I got through the first book and a half before I set it down one night and never felt like picking it up again.

Song of Ice and Fire
See above — I think I probably got about 75-100 pages into Game of Thrones before my flicker of interest was extinguished and I couldn’t go on.

Temperance Brennan Mysteries
I started watching Bones because it was David Boreanaz’s new show. I kept watching because once they found their groove, it became quite a good show in the ‘procedural-with-a-twist’ genre. I was interested enough to take a look at the book series that supposedly inspired the show, but after reading the first two books I never got around to reading the third. I may go back to it eventually, but there’s absolutely no urgency.

Anyone else have a series which you should like but find lacking in that certain something?